


Going Home

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 18:27:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13619130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: Naomi has been hurt and Blair is looking after her





	Going Home

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2018 Sentinel Bingo square 'home'

Going Home

by Bluewolf

Blair had been away from Cascade for three weeks staying with Naomi, who had been involved in what she called a minor accident and asked him to stay with her while she recovered.

He quickly discovered that the accident wasn't as minor as she had claimed. Naomi had broken both an arm and a leg and, while not actually bedridden, was certainly mobility impaired.

Three interminable weeks. In some ways Jim wished it had been possible for Blair to bring her to the loft, but if he was honest with himself, Jim knew that he would find Naomi's presence in his home for that length of time an imposition. It wasn't that he disliked Naomi... but he did like her best in small doses.

But he was desperately missing the presence of his friend.

***

Blair, staying in the small spare room in the house Naomi was renting in Tacoma, was almost as uptight as Jim. He loved his mother, he did, but found her almost incessant demands during her convalescence more than a little wearing.

He understood that with a broken leg she needed crutches but that with a broken arm she couldn't use them. He understood how helpless she must feel. But there were personal things he would have done without a second thought for Jim that were more than a little embarrassing when done for a woman, even - possibly especially - his mother. He did manage to persuade her to employ a nurse to see to the most intimate parts of her care - although she insisted that a nurse's attention was too impersonal - she didn't seem to understand that seeing his mother naked was not something Blair was comfortable with. Naomi didn't see it as any different from his having a girl friend - and she knew he had had several - and seeing her naked.

And he wondered... Naomi had realized that staying at the loft - an offer he had made without Jim's knowledge - was hardly practical, but it had never occurred to her that the demands she was making on him for personal, intimate care, was even more of an imposition.

Was this a way of trying to use her dependence on him to get him away from Jim? When she finally got the casts off, would she insist she still needed his care?

***

Time dragged for both men. If the first three weeks had been slow, the next three were even slower. After one near-zone, Jim kept his senses on low - better to go back to the way he had worked in the days pre-Sandburg than risk a serious zone. OH, Simon could pull him out of one, but not easily.

***

As the sixth week neared its end, Blair took Naomi back to the hospital.  The doctor declared himself well pleased and removed the casts. "But you need to be careful for another week or two," he said. "Don't try to do too much.

Blair was careful not to sigh. All right, he doubted that Naomi would expect him to perform the more intimate services he had had to tackle in the preceding six weeks, but he had more than a passing suspicion that she would take the opportunity to keep him at her side for a while longer - even though for years she had cheerfully gone off on her travels leaving him behind.

On the other hand...

He had been able to stay with her for six weeks because her accident had coincided with Rainier's summer break. But - although he had taken some of his work with him when he joined her, he would have to return to Cascade soon to spent time preparing material for the coming semester. Could he persuade her to visit one of her friends, now that she was at least going to be semi-mobile, so that he could return home to pick up his university responsibilities?

Well, it was worth trying, maybe two or three days down the line.

But when he broached the subject - trying to sound more reluctant about it than he actually was - Naomi was surprisingly understanding - but of course she had seen him tackling on his university work in the intervals between caring for her. And so she invited a friend to stay with her, and allowed Blair to leave.

***

It had been more practical to take his car to Tacoma than to fly there; yes, he could have called an ambulance when Naomi needed to visit the hospital, but having his car available was easier. He didn't quite break any speed limits as he drove north again, but it was a near thing. He drove into Cascade and headed for the loft, and home.

Home. The time he had spent in Naomi's house hadn't felt like home. He had felt like a visitor.

He parked beside Jim's truck, glad to see it there; gathered up his two bags, locked the car and headed into 852 Prospect.

It was clear that Jim had been watching for him. He was barely in the door when Jim appeared down the stairs. "Welcome home!"

Jim grabbed the larger of Blair's bags and they went back up the stairs together. Inside apartment 307 there was the smell of food ready or nearly ready to eat. Jim put down the bag, and as Blair put down the one he was carrying, Jim caught him in a tight hug as he repeated, "Welcome home, Chief. Welcome home."

 


End file.
